Life in the Milieu - Aiken's Heritage

Aiken's Heritage
They didn't keep a strong eye on him, and when he moved to go out the build=
ing, his guard looked at him for a moment. 'Catching a smoke,' said Aiken.
The guard stared at him, and said nothing more.  Aiken moved off, and wande=
red down the street.  They'd given him some debit cards with a fair bit of =
spending money, and provided his milieu identity cards.  He found the airpo=
rt, and got to France quickly enough.  He was back to the original spot.  H=
e'd landed first in Scotland, but decided to travel to France.  It had come=
 out in Scotland, and he wasn't sure why.  But when he returned to where th=
e original timegate had been, it pushed at him.  Like gravity repelling him=
, then his mind was in turmoil, and logical flow of thought disappeared, re=
placed by a thousand voices of Scottish ancestry, insulting him, rebuking h=
im, admonishing him, reminding him he was a Christian, and get the fuck ove=
r it Aiken.  And he fled to Scotland, and then his mind was at rest.  He wa=
s outside of Glasgow, in a small parkland, eating fast food, and looking ou=
t.  His mind was quiet again, and then, seemingly happy he had found his re=
st, they started chatting, but coherently, and respectfully enough.
'Listen dimwit.  The Drum plan is not what you think mate.'
'The Drum plan,' replied Aiken to the voice.
'The clanplan, dimwit,' said another voice.
'The clanplan,' replied Aiken to the other voice.
'He's an idiot,' said another voice.  'He doesn't even know what's in his b=
lood, let alone his heritage of ancestry.  Can't even work out the powers o=
f his being, and where they came from.  Assumes he's gifted.  Total moron.'
'I resent that,' replied Aiken Drum.
'We've gone through a lot of struggle in competing with the rest of them,' =
said a voice. 'And froggies are fine enough friends, but don't let Marc pus=
h you around so easily next time.  Remillards have a lot of power, but they=
 are not alone in the milieu.  Other people have plenty to say as well.'
'You're my ancestry,' said Aiken.
'Give the man a prize.  He's still got that IQ point we discussed.'
Aiken chuckled on that one.  'Classic,' he replied.  'You guys are Drum bas=
tards alright.'
'Watch your Ps and Qs,' said a voice. 'We are honoured members of the Drum =
clan, servants of the Lord God Almighty and Jesus Christ his blessed son.'
'Jesus,' sword Aiken.
'Exactly,' said a voice in reply.
'So I'm a Christian am I?' asked Aiken.  'Pretty sure I'm not baptised from=
 memory.'
'It's in your blood.  Quite a lot of the tradition is in your blood, Aiken.=
  Baptism is not so crucial anymore.  You are born again enough.'
'I see,' said Aiken.  'Where do you guys exist?  Heaven?  Spiritual dimensi=
on?'
'Something like that,' said a voice.  'We're the aspects of spiritual knowl=
edge in your blood.  But we have life from our spirit, and you don't need t=
o know much else.  Suffice to say you have work to do to tidy up your reput=
ation a fair bloody amount, and we expect some actual heroics this time whe=
n the Serpents of Gehenna really start pushing their agenda. And don't expe=
ct them to play fair.'
'Marc mentioned something about that,' said Aiken.  'Briefly in New York.'
'Apart from that, it's your life, but you owe the family the effort of gett=
ing around to our actual traditions.  And there is no better place to start=
 then fair Scotland the Brave.'
'I see,' said Aiken.  'I suppose so.'
And the voices went quiet, and he munched on his fast food, and enjoyed the=
 day.
The End